I. Welcome to the program tensions are rising in tanzania ahead of wednesdays parliamentary and president ial elections in Major Opposition Party is accusing police of shooting dead at least 9 people in the island region of a head of the poll the u. N. Has called on all political leaders to refrain from violence president is seeking the 2nd 5 year term is spotty a child my child or c. C. M. Has held power for decades his time in office has seen rapid Economic Growth but also down on the opposition and on political dissent. Rallying his supporters before the election incumbent john magaw is running on a condom. That until recently was growing fast but i ask you my fellow tanzania to vote for me on the 28th i want to bring new changes to tanzania you were all witnesses that in my 1st term in power i have brought a lot of changes to this country. Yeah. But economic record has taken a hit from the corona virus pandemic critics say the government has covered up tanzanias outbreak maghrib fully said the country had conquered the virus through prayer the government stopped updating its infection numbers earlier this year the opposition says thats part of a trend of suppressing bad news and press freedoms and brutalizing rival political parties. Todo list who heads a coalition of opposition groups he spent 3 years in exile after an assassination attempt he claims the government is ratcheting up its crackdown on rival groups. The kind of violence that we we see were beginning to see. Is is is is different this time. There he is is cat and there will be violence because even a free and Fair Election fair and square but voters see the 2 sides in starkly different terms secretes didnt. Know the roads we see you cant just look at it we dont see it and he didnt just. Go into seat. We are here because we are patriots and because we are tired of the oppression that is happening in our country. Our country has a lot of resources which could make it rich but unfortunately our leaders have a loss for power and are denying us that. The government has limited the ability of International Media to cover the election and denied accreditation to International Election observers thats cast further doubt over whether the poll will be free and fair for more. Than william who is covering the election he starts by telling us more about the alleged killings by the police on what that means for the election. So there have been such allegations insensible because theres no position of supporters to go and vote today but its not the date heard today its as i said its only for the for the special groups. Sounds about so but ive had 2 interviews. Together with Police OfficersPolice Officers in townsville and they have denied such allegations but they have say that there have been some confrontations with the police because some people were insisting to go and vote today so there have been some confrontations but the police have denied such allegations but of course when you talk with the Opposition Party that they said she was a window they emphasize that some people have been kid and their opposition leaders have also been arrested by the police ok there seems to always be some confrontations there in that country the president has been accused of crushing dissent and abusing his power what exactly is going on. So there have been allegations from various International Bodies towards tanzania that the current president is abusing his power i mean we have heard this from from the Reporters Without Borders complaining about the situation of journalists we have had recently that the government wanted their local media to get special interests in order to get connected to the International Media so we have also heard that. Some people have been have lost current the current opposition president ial candidate for example to do this so was short almost 16 times so all they have been quite some situations where by International Communities of all is said that the current regime itself will retire and that of course with the current regime the regime has been denying such allegations and for example with the case of too little being short several times ok these are some of these are some of the issues which investigations according to the government that the investigations are still going on lets lets talk about the d. D. A. Itself what are the main issues people are voting on. So there are some people for example who who are voting for like new regime so they want changes serum has been in power since independence and even before this here theyre pretty says it was called tunnel so this has been a party which was in power which has been in power for so many years to instill appendices so there are some people who want change they want to see what their opposition can do when they when they get their chance to rule the country so this is on the one hand the people who would support their position but are the other side there will be there are some people who see that the incumbent president has done a lot so when you look at Infrastructure Projects that have been quite some projects including their current. Project started get to a way they have been the president has been reviving the National Carrier here so some of the people who would wish that incumbent president continue so that he can finish what he started away are those exactly ok you know we report our house and william thanks for your time thanks. Lets now take a look at some of us stories making news across the continent after postelection violence in guinea killed nearly 2 to 2 dozen People International voice of mediating a crisis of edge the west african government left the blockade of the home of the main opposition leader. Disputes 80 internationals out that have set the stage for that of president. In mozambique thousands of displaced people have arrived in the port town of pemba in the countrys northernmost province of kabul delgado a gas rich region has been under attack by extremist groups for the past 3 years the u. N. Estimates that more than 300000 people have fled their homes as a result of the insurgency. Former members of the Central African republic speak you 5 groups of symbolically 100 over their weapons in the capital city. This launches a feather phase of the Community ViolenceProduction Program that by the United Nations mission in the country. Now. Against foreign nationals in south africa have become quite common despite the government adopt an action plan to combat that last year very little has been achieved so far and now a movement calling itself put south africa fast as vowed to ensure that africans leave the country and that those who remain denied all the livelihood opportunities the group is accusing foreign nationals of committing crime taking their jobs and even making the cities dirty. Has more from johannesburg was i was right and employment hand that going on west and 19 has lived. In south africa being accused of or kinds of i think citizens. And that is not their victims of the boston who tells them off the violence doesnt have a head their shops look at the west violence in 2018 more than 60 people were killed in that year. The recent inmate hands of a Group Calling itself put south africa 1st has knocked many for the nationalist scared that if most of us a wave of xenophobic violence could erupt this group. Made up of Different Community organizations is supporting protest demonstrations and protests across the country asking for the nationals to pick and live should understand the position of citizens when they see as. Much or 2 of the foreign nationals in the country the bad people one percent is good and the rest they need to go back to Human Rights Watch dogs are taking the government to speak to attend to the concerns of the groups such as put some of the fest before things get out of control reactivity worried that this is now going to you know break out into again the same type of xenophobic violence it received over and over that they cant 2008 last year you know so and you know unfortunately what the difference between now and before is that its becoming organized South AfricanAuthorities Say though this moved to report some of the 1st movement once they have started east memorandum of demands young South African into america our recently lost ahead joe. She insists that only a handful of for the nationals should be allowed to enter the country and the strict conditions will be as she did the best Police Constables because the skills stepping up to give them to me is so tough you cant control right but for 53 year old ibrahim or how many this is an extreme lot of development you could do it in the 2008 xenophobic violence in south africa these campaign and beating show was noted and one of his brother has killed it for me to be because some of the studies look you know you guys are just like you go off you go right off ill think of this story since it was a little bit better get it done to. Him why make money its to his dad his life again and he is now with the problem or not the about him how it popped up coffee shop in mayfair to hans make. Thats it for now for more stories you can check out d. W. Dot com slash africa oh you can go to our facebook and twitter pages. In the mind of climate change. Africas make of. Whats in store for. Years to come for their future in the. Congo for 2 major cities to get insight. Culture. I was here when i arrived here i slept with people in a room and. It was hard i was free. I even got white haired room for. The german language and now a lot of this gets me and cleared up but you need to interact with the site you want to know their story. And reliable information for margaret. Hello and welcome to our send culture an exhibition by South African artists and filmmaker william cantrip is always an event will get the lowdown on a major show thats just opened in hamburg and also in the pipeline. Pulitzer prize winning author i yod tars latest book homeland elegies blends fact and fiction in a searing commentary on the existential crisis of being american today. William kantor it is one of the worlds most important visual artists working today he uses multiple media and is well known as a theater and on proto rector but drawing is always his starting point his way of thinking aloud and as a White South African a way of reckoning with his countrys painful past history which is why its now the focus all of the retrospective why should i hesitate putting drawings to work. Magical films between disintegration and creation. It all begins with a simple charcoal line. Drawing is of the essence of the multidisciplinary artist william cantrip. An exhibition in hamburg. Gives an overview of the South African artists graphic works. One displays some of the famous films created from his drawings. And paint for life he brings into a perhaps cold medion films something handmade and warm this is aside from the topics he addresses which have to do with apartheid and with this rather brutal industrialization found around johannesburg. Hartness book. Again and again the works return to exploitation racism and violence against black people. Pics that cantered has been familiar with since childhood. His lawyer father represented victims of a party to it his mother also fought for human rights. But that hasnt resulted in cantered feeling obliged to see himself as a political artist his works are rarely as an m. B. A. Give us as with this refugee boat its the ambiguous sometimes and it magic that makes his work so exciting. Cantar it also has a sense of humor. Hes no fan of big mouths or ideologues and silences them using his own unique methods. His artistic commentary on the maoist cultural revolution was not well received in china racism. Racism post colonialism and especially the african perspective on europe not always looking from europe to africa these are the big topics of debate today. The insides of the hearts this could see its roots. The william country is not concerned with being topical. His work is too complex for that. In all of his roles are prowar theater director actor or artist the humanist shines through and that cantor is also presented to wonderful effect in hamburg. And William Kantor joins me from just outside of london today its a pleasure to have you on the program mr can trade im interested yes and im interested in the title this idea of hesitation because uncertainty is such a light motif through much of your work tell us whats behind it please. I suppose im interested in texts which are riddles that you cant solve so why should i hesitate that could even mean why should i hesitate theres nothing to hesitate for let me go straight to it or trying to ask why is it that i do his update. And its us post about the uncertainty of meaning you think youve been something down but then you discover its meaning is elusive so i think its puts provision ality and doubt at the center of the exhibition. There and theres also this very strong focus obviously on drawing youre one of your your main way of understanding the world and as something very reminiscent of childhood what is it about drawing as such that so vital to your artistic identity and if there and innocence about it perhaps thats common to all of your explorations in other media i wouldnt say that this an innocence but. Its about thinking through the body when a child will so the make a drawing its not necessarily about being able to follow a thought and get it down on paper its somewhere between a desire to have an image and seeing what it is that your hand produces so its both about thinking in the moment thinking aloud withdrawing but its also allowing the muscles the impulses these im conscious thoughts to shape the work that you are making and for me drawing is the most practical and the most efficient and the most natural and physical of forms to work so its not only paint and its not a computer its the hand and a piece of charcoal and some paper. Thats very interesting and this is of course one of the largest presentations of your work today that spans over 40 years of your production how do you feel when you see it all pull together there into this particular narrative especially against the backdrop of this or extraordinary year with things like the pandemic and obviously the racial unrest in much of the world did anything reg surprising perhaps a resonate in a new way well well you know the exhibition was 1st shown in cape town a year ago it was the year before the. Good one of the major pieces in it is is a piece which is about this pandemic polluted made 5 or 6 years ago at the time of the a boner epidemic in west africa but its images of the dance of death of death leading people the way they would in a medieval drawing and a dance against it the way villages would dance to let the play part of them by obviously has very strong echoes with where we are today thats part of the fact of covert being that exhibition a serpent in i am both but its not yet been possible to travel from johannesburg to hamburg so im hoping to get the during the run of the exhibition. And to see how it feels in a different space obviously an exhibition changes every time it moves its a mixture between the work thats there and the space shown in and and it looks beautiful and dr hunter im sure it does now just quickly politics plays such a huge role in your work and of course your own biography how do you see the political role of r ted at this stage of your career. Well im interested in an art that can reflect things which arent usually very political or that is to say that can reflect the ambiguity the paradox of the contradictions of the political so normally when one thinks of political art and thinks of something the clear agenda with just statement that the single minded and for me that doesnt reflect the absurd and that in the paradoxical in the world so im interested in an art which has a space for not knowing quite what something might mean to understanding that something can mean one thing at one moment and shift its meaning with a series of different circumstances uncertain images 2 to reflect the uncertainty of our times william can trade in hamburg stashed behind until april 18th and thank you so much for joining us today william can trades in my pleasure great britain. Well just one week to go until the u. S. Election and in the lead up were gauging the mood of multiple artists and creatives to get their take on a polarized america. Is an american born playwright and novelist of pakistani heritage and his newest book draws on his own life to tell the story of a nation coming apart at the scenes we live in a corporate totalitarian autocracy. Turns books have been translated into more than 20 languages hes also written Award Winning plays like disgraced. Me and i think hes going to probably. Yes. In his new novel homeland elegies october describes the experiences of an author he named he had a doctor whose father is a doctor who treated donald trump may have become a trump supporter. The writer wont reveal what in the book is fiction and what is fact but his view of america is clearly expressed in its pages. I think that in the last 50 years and this is the story that i tell in the last 50 years some notion of a collective good began to evaporate and what rose out of that dissolution. Was a commitment a fierce commitment to the individual i what i want what i need america is about protecting my rights my rights to have a gun if i wanted to make as much money as i want to use whatever bathroom i want. Its all the same thats not a vision of a collective society. Until recently new york was known as a center of art and culture the city often blaze trails that the rest of the world follow now survival especially the economic kind is the main priority and not just for artists in 2016 almost 80 percent of new yorkers voted democrat donald trump is a republican president who has been vindictive. If hes reelec